Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-08-06
August 2, 1887.
To the CHRONICLE.

10 bne CHRONICLE.
"The idea of protection does not enter at all
into the Discussion from democratic stand
point except the fact that every daty
laid upon product of American industry
is protection incidentally to that industry
TO the extent of the duty laid, and, In
adjusting the rate, we give the preference
to our own products over those imported
from foreign countries whore this is practi-
cable. This Is the whole. matter in a nut
shell,-Ex., from editorial of Both.
Thisnutshell Isl small that 1t contains only
the principle of the thing; the practlc cable
o itworking of IL in dollars and cents Is what
the people are Interested in knowing.
The average tax (tarif) on the importer
into this country Of foreign made goods is
twas In 1880 431a per cent. on the first cost of
them. On many articles of prime necessity
and universal consumption the tax is much
greater than this average. On the thousand
and odd articles taxed, thetaxation is relative
ly higher on articles OF commo / use than ar
tlcles Of luxury used by the wealthy. All this
has has been plainly shown by such unim-
peachable and well informed men as Prof
Summer of Yale College. Hence any one can
see that the home makers Of our goods have,
though this tariff, the opportunity given them
by law OF charging their buyers not only the
foreign price of them, but of adding on
another charge "to the extent of the duty
laid" as you term it. In other words, this law
has the effect OF enforcing all classes OF citi-
zens to buy the goods of the home manutac.
turer at his own prices if he fall only a cent or
two below the tariff tax. For example; You
to-day order a two dollar blanket from Liver
pool, when 1t gets to this country it goes first
into the New York custom house and you
cannot get 1t from there until you pay anoth-
er (taritfl dollar, Your blanket stands you
now three dollars. This dollar goes into the
u. s. Treasury. The home macuiacturer sees
that and thereafter diverts that money from
the U. s. Treasury into his own pocket by Of
fering you in New York blanket of his own
makej Just as good for one dallar and ninety
cents-ninety cents more than 1t is really
worth. You win feel yourself fool if you
don't buy of him ever after, although you
know you are swindled. In this way the
monies that should go into the U. 5. Treasury
are, on account OF the high tariff, turned into
the hands of a single favored class of citizens
to the impoverishment OF the rest. Already
three times the amount of our enormous
national debt has been diverted into the
y lnds OF a few-leaving the debt itself unpaid
by q remainder OF over a thousand
millions of dollars principal. One conse-
quence of THIS is, that Congress under this
law has made ones class of our citizens fabu-
lously ricn. II now, controls Congress
its citadel is the U. - Senate. Another
consequence is, 1t has made the laboring
classes correspondingly poorer. The neat prof.
Its of their labor has been fi.ehed from them
! by overchargiug them for the manufactured
articles they are forced to buy. Protected In
this robbery by thu high tariff these men
1 hive, for twenty years, m ple the people pay
extortionate prices for the products OF their
/ Industry, as the census of 1880 shows. To
/ illustrate; SSx per cent. extra Is far b low
what they are allowed TO extnrt. sly they
have not gone beyond II (whiea cannot be
saidl even this swallows up The neat prodts 81
ever third hogshead Of tobacco. every third
bale OF cotton. every third bashel OF wheat.
rye, oats, corns-every thicd horse, COW, she p,
hog;--the third Of every thing the planter
raises and sells; he loses the th.rl of the pur-
/ chasing Price u his money on accoaas 81 tie